Living with Diabetes
Does the Diabetes Diagnosis Mean Doom?
So you’ve just been diagnosed with diabetes by your family physician. While I can’t possibly attempt to guess at all the ‘what ifs’
and ‘what nows’ that are going through your head, I can tell you that living with diabetes does not mean you have to completely readjust your life. There will be some changes that need to be made, but you’ll see they aren’t the death of your lifestyle!
1. Monitor Yourself
This title may sound a bit strange but the best way to control your lifestyle is to know precisely what and precisely how you are doing. Monitoring your blood sugar has become very simple with modern technology. Knowing what your blood sugar levels are will help you stay healthy and on track with your treatment regimen.
2. Remember to Eat
Diabetes is a disease where blood sugar needs to be in tight control. Often there is a misconception that this only applies when 
blood sugar levels are high. This is only half true since extremely low blood sugar levels are also very dangerous. Diabetic coma dangerous. This often happens by accident when someone takes an insulin injection and gets distracted forgets to follow that injection with a meal. So eat foods low in sugar to keep levels low, but make sure you always eat after an injection of insulin.
3. Take the Stairs
This could be one of the most dramatic lifestyle changes you’ll need to make. You’ll likely have to become more active than you were, especially if you spent the bulk of your days on your butt. Exercise helps the body take sugar out of the blood and brings it into exercising cells. The more practice this system gets, the better it will be at what it does. You’ve got to use it before you lose it, so to speak.
4. Look at your Feet
This one could fall into the first category but it’s important enough to get its own section. As diabetes progresses, especially if it’s uncontrolled, damage to nerve, skin and muscles may begin to take hold of your feet. Nerve damage usually comes first. What this means is that if you develop an ulcer on the bottom of your foot, you won’t feel it. These ulcers can only be treated if you know they are there. Make sure you check yourself once every few days. If an infection starts, it can have nasty effects if left untreated.
Living with diabetes doesn’t necessarily mean you have to make drastic changes to your lifestyle. What it does mean is that you have to be more vigilant and pay more attention to your body and what it is trying to tell you.
